International Karate Championships

History

In 1964, Ed Parker held his first “International Karate Championships” (IKC) in Long Beach, California, which became the largest Martial Arts tournament in the US for many years. The IKC´s brought out some of the best martial artists from around the world.

In 1982 the first IKC Europe was held in Jersey hosted by Roy Mc Donald, with Mr Parker as special guest.

The second IKC Europe in 1983 was in Willich, Germany. It was Rainer Schulte, being the European director for the I.K.K.A. at that time, that started this IKC Europe in order to give some of the European I.K.K.A. members a chance to compete at the I.K.K.A. level, since most could not afford to travel to Long Beach. The original 3 coloured IKC flame patch was altered to the Black & Silver version for these yearly events.

In the following years there were still the “Internationals” in Long Beach each year, while there was also a European Camp or Tournament being held in the following countries:

1984-1988	Jersey CI
1990	Exeter UK
1991	Plymouth UK

At a meeting held in Exeter, England in early 1990 Mr. Parker had spoken of his desire to see annual tournaments held in Europe and was particularly interested in seeing one held in Dublin. This meeting was attended by the following European I.K.K.A. instructors: Roy MacDonald, Graham L’Elliot, Paul Dowling, Shay McNamee, Ed Downey, Mervyn Ormand, Garry Ellis, Jakki McVicar, and Jose Maria Gutierrez.

Following to that meeting, successful I.K.K.A. events were held annually with Mrs Parker attending as I.K.K.A. president in:

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1991 Ireland	'92-'94 Jersey	1995 Spain	1996 Jersey

1997 Holland	1998 Greece	1999 Ireland	2000 Jersey

In 2001 Mrs Leilani Parker and the I.K.K.A. took the “Internationals” and made it a truly International event, by travelling to the following I.K.K.A. Countries…


2001 Portugal	2002 Spain	2003 USA	2004 Ireland

2005 Greece	2006 Holland	2007 Mexico	2008 Jersey CI

2009 USA	2010 USA	2011 Spain	2012 Holland

2013 USA	2014 USA

Being held since 1964, the IKC´s are the longest running Martial Arts event in history.

‘The flame still burns’All IKKA European members gather twice a year at the IKKA-Europe Gathering & Training Camp being organised in a different European country and the annual European Championships in Dusseldorf. Below you’ll find the upcoming events.

2017	Tongerlo, Belgium	27/29 Oct.
2018	Exeter, England	27/29 Apr
2018	European Championships, Dusseldorf, Germany	20/23 Sept.
2019	Pescara, Italy	t.b.a.
2019	European Championships, Dusseldorf, Germany	t.b.a.
2020	Odenske, Denmark	t.b.a.
2020	European Championships, Dusseldorf, Germany	t.b.a.
2021	Nice, France	t.b.a.
2021	European Championships, Dusseldorf, Germany	t.b.a.